Great Trip and Good Eats

We are back from our two weeks of travel... youth camp the second week of July, and this past week in Corpus Christi visiting my family. I must say, the trips were pretty easy, thanks to Southwest Airlines and their peanuts and new plane crackers, Crayola Color Wonder Markers, juice boxes, Laurie Berkner and her Band, and a two month old who loves to sleep on trips.

We had lots of great moments on our trip, but I must thank Cami for inspiring me to write about some key experiences that are not available in good ol' MO. Can you say Whataburger? For those of you who may have had the misfortune to have never eaten there, let me just tell you that no other burger joint cuts the mustard. (ha) Sure, we've got Steak n Shake, Wendys, Hardees, McDonalds (no we don't own stock-can't tell you how many times people ask that and it's never been funny), and Sonic, but my yearning for those yummy burgers, fries, and especially their special recipe Ketchup only grows with time. I missed the orange and white striped roofs and actually got to have a WhataReunion with them this past week. I love how their workers (at least in Corpus) visit the tables with the oh-so-neatly organized trays of napkins, salt, pepper, condiments (Ketchup Ketchup!) and mints. Their peppermints are even orange and white!

Ok, no one who lives inland gets to experience the best seafood without shelling out a lot of clams for the experience (I'm on a roll) I NEVER eat seafood up here unless it's the easily accessible variety...salmon, tuna, tilapia. Boy, I miss the good stuff. We went to a local restaurant called Catfish Charlie's in Corpus. Some places attempt to serve good fried catfish, but none do it like this. We didn't get to make it to King's Inn this time (amazing fresh fried shrimp and drum, with the best onion rings and avocado salad), but if you're ever in the Corpus area, don't miss the chance to go!

Another memorable moment: Mexican Food! I don't care how many times you go to El Chico, or even to a madre&padre mexican food restaurant here in Missouri, you'll go away from the visit wishing you'd had real mexican food. There's a little place in Corpus called P.O.E.T.S. (name is a long story) that has the best chicken fajitas, salsa, flour tortillas and flour tortilla chips! Mmmm. Delicioso.

Kudos go to my mom, though, because although we long to visit Whataburger, Taco Bueno, PF Changs, Pei Wei, POETS, Kings Inn, Catfish Charlie's, or Freebirds, the best food of all comes from her own kitchen. Roast with potatoes and carrots...Blueberry Scones...Pico de Gallo...Snicker Cake...and homemade rolls. Mmmm. It's a wonder they didn't have to roll us onto the plane to come back.